wells are nothing new to ranchers here because this valley is home to an oilfield where companies like chevron having drilling for more than 60 years. but new technology would allow that drilling to expand to places where the oil lies much deeper. 14billion barrels of oil reserves could now finally be accessible in the hills and valleys beyond san ard doe in an area known as the monterey shale. >> these are source rocks for oil and gas. >> reporter: this physicist says shale oil is harder to harvest. you need go down and out horizontally in a technique called fracking. >> now we have technology, enabling technologies, that allow these reservoirs to be produced economically. >> reporter: with oil at almost $90 a barrel, he predicts things are about to change. fast. >> there's just a lot more activity and a lot of that activity is in places where there hasn't been much for a long period of time. >> reporter: in monterey county oil prospectors are knock on the doors of landowners trying to buy up leases. >> now all of a sudden, the people that drilled for oil are more interested in going out and